The Delhi government has cleared the file on the mercy petition of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru and sent it to the Lieutenant Governor's office, four years after its opinion was sought on the issue by the Centre.

"File age chali gayi hei. (The file has been moved for further action)," Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told reporters here. However, she did not respond to queries on where the file has been sent.

Top government sources said the Delhi home department has sent the file to the office of Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna, who will examine it and send it back.

After it is returned by the LG office, the state home department will forward the file to the union home ministry.

The clearance of the file came after the Delhi government received the 16th reminder from union home ministry recently seeking its opinion on the mercy petition. The government yesterday had said it will send in the "shortest possible time" its opinion on the mercy petition.

The Delhi government has been sitting on the file for nearly four years and the capital punishment awarded to Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab in the Mumbai attacks case brought the issue under fresh focus.

Guru was awarded death sentence by a Delhi court on December 18, 2002 after being convicted of conspiracy to attack Parliament on December 13, 2001, waging war against the country and murder.

The death sentence was upheld by Delhi High Court on October 29, 2003 and his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court two years later on August four, 2005.

A sessions court also fixed the date of his hanging on October 20, 2006 in Tihar jail.

Following this, Afzal filed a mercy petition with the President, who forwarded it to Union Home Ministry for its comments.

The union home ministry had sent the file to Delhi government's home department for its comments, as per the laid out procedure.